One of Altrincham’s coolest coffee shops is serving up cocktails, lattes, cakes and records from a converted caravan. Stutter and Twitch – based in Stamford Square’s not so secret garden – opened in 2021, and appears to be a bustling hub combining a love of music with food and drink.
The unusual venue comes from the team behind local independent record label Stutter and Twitch. Founder Ryan Hayes bought the caravan on New Year’s Day 2019 which underwent a lengthy restoration.
Coming from out of town, we parked in the Stamford Quarter multi-storey car park and spotted the Instagrammable bar as we descended the stairs into Altrincham town centre. It’s quite the welcome, and really showcases what Alty has to offer.
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We pulled up a bench under the wooden pagoda where long picnic benches sat on top of antique rugs. Artificial grass covered the square outside, with floral walls and wooden seats around garden planters. With the sun shining, I could have happily sat there all day eating cake and drinking cocktails.
Shoppers can order at the caravan window where there is a selection of cakes on offer, all baked in house. I went for a vegan lemon cake, while we ordered teas, hot chocolate and a chai latte for the table.
The peg-board menu sits to the left of the open side of the caravan, which holds racks and racks of vinyl records you can flick through while you wait. I spotted some absolute gems, including Echo and the Bunnymen and a first pressing of The Clash’s London Calling. There’s also a small stall with more records, which doubles up as DJ decks for their live music events.
On our table was a foldaway chess board, and though a little rusty having not played for about 15 years, we did enjoy a rather tense match between sipping my cinnamon chai and devouring my lemon cake.
Sustainability plays a huge part in everything Stutter and Twitch are about, using locally-based suppliers for milk and coffee who are sustainable and ethical themselves, too.
When we’d finished our hot drinks, we noticed that the van also serves craft beers and coffee – so we vowed to pop back before heading to the car after visiting Altrincham Market.
On our return a few more tables had been laid out as it was later in the day and a bit busier, so we sat out in the sun closest to the cocktail menu and events list.
The cocktail menu is small but well crafted, offering things like mojitos, aperol spritz, limoncello spritz, a coffee-based cocktail, frozen strawberry daiquiri and frozen margaritas. All cocktails are £8.50 or two for £15, which can save you a quid if you double up or order with friends. The beers are on the pricey side, with one of the options costing £5 for a half pint of DIPA, but there are some more affordable options, like the house lager.
The unit at Stamford Square offers a number of events each week from open decks and chess tournaments, to live music from local artists and DJs. The live music wouldn’t start until 7pm on Saturday evening, and sadly we weren’t hanging around that late, but would absolutely plan to during our next trip now that we know.
Stutter and Twitch have carefully crafted a really cool community space that can be enjoyed with coffee, cocktails, vinyls, board games and live music, offering a really vibrant destination for locals, but also provides a real draw for tourists, too. We can’t wait to go back and enjoy it all over again.
